La_Estrella_de_Sol and Listillo were thriving at the Water Faerie Lijalana's
home in Faerieland. They both were now almost well. Though they needed about
a day's more rest to completely heal, they felt fine and often sat up in bed
to creep out unnoticed, though Lijalana knew every time they did it with her
magic.
When they were fully well, they explored Lijalana's tiny cloud for a little
bit. As they looked down from the sky, they could see the seas lapping below,
and this brought to mind their quest. They needed to find the tears of the sea
soon. After all, their owner must be worried about them!
Suddenly, a dark purple shadow brushed past them, but they made nothing of
it.
As they went inside, they noticed something odd. There was a hole in the air,
and it appeared to lead into a bare cabin that looked like Krent's. However,
they had almost no time to study it because it began to grow dark. A shadow
spread over all of Faerieland, and the darkness soon totally encompassed the
land. The darkness grew…and grew…and grew…until finally, no one could see even
their hands-or paws-an inch in front of their noses or snouts. The only lights
came from a few Light Faeries that were around, but soon even these lights grew
dim, though they were not fully out.
"It's her," whispered Lijalana, making Listillo and La_Estrella_de_Sol jump.
"The Uber Dark Faerie. Faerie queen knows what she's doing. She needs to be
kept under control."
Listillo felt a breeze as the Water Faerie whizzed past him, and then, she
was gone.
Suddenly, Listillo felt his Aisha sister grasp his paw. Her claws dug into
him, and he could feel her trembling in fear-or was that him trembling himself?
He couldn't tell, with his sight gone, but he prayed that this would be over
soon.
"Goodness…oh, goodness," panted a voice in Listillo's ear.
The Shoyru turned his head and saw a faint light hovering there, a small Light Faerie about as big as his head. She was unusually small, even for a faerie,
about as unusually small as Jilmarah was unusually big.
"Hello," said Listillo uncertainly.
"Please, my dear Shoyru, I'm Lanaea. The Uber Faerie of the Dark is hunting
me…please, is there any way you can protect me?" The little faerie was deeply
frightened and was very out of breath.
Listillo felt a pain in his chest that told him to refuse. His mind became
a swirl of everything he knew and loved. La_Estrella_de_Sol…his owner…his favourite
toy…slushies…omelettes…his NeoHome and garden…and then a very curious face-Jilmarah's.
Then, he saw, over all others, a face he didn't recognise. It was the face of
a faerie, though he didn't know what faerie and was too mixed up right then
to even know what element the faerie was of. All he knew was that she had dark,
purplish hair and big, light purplish eyes. Her lips were pink, her complexion
pale but slightly tanned. She wore a tiara, but not a smile, and though she
wasn't smiling, her eyes smiled, though her eyes at the same time were serious
and wise. Listillo, if he hadn't been so confused, would have known that the
image he saw could only be one faerie-the Faerie Queen herself.
Krent sighed and shook his head. After realising that Lanaea had escaped, Jilmarah
had scowled, opened a portal to Faerieland, and clambered ungracefully through
it. However, she had forgotten to close it, and he saw the shadow spreading
and growing darker, and he knew that Jilmarah had contacted her Uber Faerie
to capture the little Light Faerie. Krent dearly wished to climb through the
portal himself and stop Jilmarah, but he adored the dark faerie, as much as
he hated it. He would never forgive himself for stopping his mistress's plan.
He heard voices.
"Please, my dear Shoyru, I'm Lanaea. The Uber Dark Faerie is hunting me…please,
is there any way you can protect me?"
Krent knew that Lanaea's sweet voice was audible through the portal.
There was a great pause. There was a dead silence; nothing in Faerieland breathed,
and the Haunted Woods seemed still as well. Finally, Krent heard the answer
in a whisper.
"I don't know if I can, but I'll try."
The voice was extremely familiar to the old man. After a few second's thought,
he knew that it was Listillo's voice, the young Shoyru who had come with his
Aisha sister to get a quest for the reward of great strength.
Krent closed the portal and prayed that the Shoyru could protect Lanaea. He
was torn; the Light Faerie's magical, natural good had her effect on him, but
the enchantment Jilmarah held was just as strong.
"I don't know if I can, but I'll try." Listillo shuddered in the growing cold.
He had, in a matter of minutes, reorganised his thoughts and identified the
face that was plastered over everything he knew and loved-the Faerie Queen.
Jilmarah was no longer important. Neopia was important. His family was important.
Every family in Neopia was important. However, most of all, the reign of Good
and Liberty and Love and Happiness was important. He intended to defend that
reign.
The Uber Dark Faerie's voice was soft at first, sounding like the soft whisper
of a breeze. However, everything was still; there was no breeze at all. Not
a thing moved as the Uber Faerie whispered her dark words of temptation.
"I will give you ultimate power," the voice said. "You are all in immediate
danger if you do not obey me. However, once you hear my reward, you will want
to obey me."
Listillo breathed deeply. He sharpened his claws on the soft fabric-like cloud.
La_Estrella_de_Sol released her painful grasp on Listillo and pointed her four
ears to listen more intently.
"Real power will encompass you and strengthen you so that you will be undefeatable.
Your talons will be sharp and your senses alert, your heart brave and your presence
fierce so that all may know your power. You will be lightning quick and have
strong muscles. This is for you, my dear Neopets, if you obey me." The Uber
Faerie's voice shifted to the other Uber Faeries. "My sisters! You know I love
you all. Now, my dear Uber Light, Earth, Water, and Fire Faeries. I know what
each of you wishes, I know your heart' s desires. Light Faerie, you want for
Goodness and Light to reign forever. I can give it to you if you only do as
your dear sister says. Earth Sister…You want each one in Neopia never to go
hungry and you wish that everyone will be natural and kind. I can grant that
unto you if you obey me. Water, you want only for peace and harmony among Neopians
and that each one will be healed of any-emotional or physical-pain they may
have. I can give this wonderful gift if you agree to me. Fire, dear, you wish
for the gift of fire to be well used and that it shall never harm anyone or
anything. This wise wish can be granted if you can do as I say." The voice was
growing louder, very subtly. "All the other faeries, the lesser, yet still powerful
faeries. If you obey me, you will be able to grant powers to every pet, wonderful
powers that work toward good. You will have power yourselves to do whatever
you wish, even each other's powers. You will be ultimate faeries!" The voice
was loud now, very loud. It needed to be for the last promise she wanted to
make- "My dear ruler, Fyora the Faerie Queen, Your Majesty! Majesty I know and
I love and I serve! I am in no place to do this, for is there no power that
you can't have? However, I know that there is one thing that you want for. One
power you wish to have-and that is to be able to control me. You want to be
able to stop me from doing all sorts of evil, you want to stop my servants and
me. I can assure you, dear queen, that if you let me do this-just this, nothing
else at all-you will have total power over the doings of both my servants and
me.
"And now, this is the command you must obey to get these wonderful gifts from
me!! You must bow to the dark and desert the light. Leave it high and dry and
bow to me! Light will return only if you do this! Light is a wonderful thing,
but not so wonderful as the darkness."
Everything was completely still except for the figures that started bowing
down to the Uber Dark Faerie. Everyone bowed except for four figures: Lanaea,
Listillo, Lijalana, and the Fyora.
Fyora was a wise faerie, and she knew that the Dark Faerie had just lied about
a thousand lies. The Faerie would not give anyone power of gifts, and the Faerie
did not believe that Light was such a wonderful thing. The Faerie Queen knew
all these lies, and did not bow down.
Lanaea, after being tormented, knew that no Dark Faerie was as kind-hearted
as to give anyone their heart's desires. She knew that there was no way that
anyone was getting such gifts as she promised.
Lijalana had known something was amiss when the Uber Faerie started to engulf
Faerieland. She tried to stop the Uber Water Faerie and she inwardly prayed
that her two patients did not bow. She also could detect the lies in the words
of the Faerie.
Lijalana had not prayed totally in vain. Listillo did not bow. After his mindwhirl
when Lanaea had asked him to help her, he knew which path he would follow, and
it was definitely not the Dark path. He tried to prevent his sister from bowing
down, but La_Estrella_de_Sol, though strong spirited and a good pet who normally
stuck to Light, was still won over and used her strong spirit to go the wrong
direction.
"Who did not bow?" the Uber Dark Faerie asked, her voice loud. "Darkness is
the ultimate element! Bow! I will destroy the whole of Neopia if you do not--"
Suddenly, the dark disappeared and Faerieland was again a land of light. The
bowed figures straightened and were no longer under a spell. The Uber Dark Faerie
was nowhere to be found. Lijalana rushed over to her cloud to tell her two patients
about the downfall.
"It was a power overload," laughed Lijalana, grinning. "It was too much for
that Faerie to handle. She can't get too powerful…the Faerie Queen put a spell
on her a while ago without her knowing so that she couldn't destroy the whole
of Neopia. Her Majesty was afraid that the spell hadn't worked when that just
happened. Are you two all right? Did you bow?"
"We're all right," said La_Estrella_de_Sol. "Listillo did not bow, but I'm
afraid I did. It's shameful." The Aisha hung her head. "In any case, we at least
made it out alive. However, we still have a problem."
"What is that?" asked Listillo.
"The tears of the sea," said La_Estrella_de_Sol, sighing. "I don't adore Jilmarah
anymore. Her spell seemed to be broken with the Dark power overload. But we
still need the tears of the sea for Krent. Otherwise, he will be expecting us,
but will never see us."
"Don't worry," Lijalana said softly. "I have just what you need..."
To be continued... | 
